


The Vision

by amaryllaus



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Conspiracy Theories, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Mutual Pining, Na Jaemin is Whipped, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Strangers to Lovers, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-04
Updated: 2019-01-16
Packaged: 2019-09-07 08:24:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,291
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16850554
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amaryllaus/pseuds/amaryllaus
Summary: Renjun was a bit weird but for some reason Jaemin couldn’t help but be drawn in. He didn’t expect that there was a hidden reason as to why Renjun approached him.OrRenjun has a death premonition and he tries to save Jaemin, the lonely tech genuis.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I’ve actually written this like a few months ago and it’s just been collecting dust. I just haven’t gotten around to it but I want to finish it so I thought that maybe if I post it then I’ll be more motivated to finish it lmao This might be a long series so if you decide to stick with me buckle up I guess. (Oh yeah there’s mention of suicide, death, and bullying but it’s not about the main characters it’s for like a ghost story and it’s really brief)

Jaemin was always praised for his tech skills. The whole school website was designed by him. Everyone in the school knew of him as that one tech guy. Even if people considered him a nerd, he didn’t care, in fact, he had pride in himself knowing that people associated him with his talents. 

Because of that, it was pretty common for students and teachers to come to him for requests. Usually, he would reject his classmate’s requests. He didn’t want to be editing someone’s homework or their Youtube videos. He had better things to do. So, when a student came up to him one day asking for help with his computer, he would normally turn them down. Normally. 

But, this time he was cute. Really cute. Jaemin was simply distracted by the small boy who babbled about ghosts in the old building or something like that. Jaemin wasn’t really listening; he was too focused on the way the boy’s eyes sparkled. In fact, he was so distracted that he simply just nodded at the boy when the boy asked if Jaemin would help him. Help him with what, Jaemin couldn’t remember. But the way the boy jumped up and down and smiled so brightly at him when Jaemin nodded had Jaemin feeling weak. 

The thought of taking that smile away left a bad feeling in Jaemin’s stomach. But Jaemin felt he might have to tell the boy he can’t. Jaemin had been stressing about a video competition. It was bad enough that he was way behind in classes; he couldn’t just add another project, even if that meant working with a cute boy. On the other hand, he didn’t want to disappoint the boy. 

He was in a dilemma. 

When he stupidly agreed to help the boy earlier that day, the boy ran toward his next class. Jaemin didn’t even give him his contact information. He didn’t even know his name. Just that they were going to meet at the entrance of the old building after school. 

And there was Jaemin waiting for the boy. Waiting to be the bearer of bad news. He wished the other boy was just a figment of his imagination and he had imagined the whole thing. Now that he thought about it no boy would be THAT cute. But much to Jaemin’s dismay, that very boy was running toward him. Jaemin pinched himself to make sure he really wasn’t just imagining things. 

The boy stopped in front of Jaemin trying to catch his breath. 

“Sorry I was late,” he breathed out. “My teacher wanted to talk to me about something.” 

Jaemin blinked. He didn’t know it was possible but the boy got even cuter, who was now wearing an oversized hoodie. His hands barely showed up from his sleeves, and his hair was a bit disheveled. Yeah, he was really cute. Jaemin couldn’t help a little smile that formed on his face. 

“It’s okay I just got here too,” Jaemin lied. In fact, he had been there for fifteen minutes. Which wasn’t really that bad but it was cold and Jaemin only had a shirt on. 

“No it isn’t,” the other boy frowned, “you look like you’re dying from hypothermia.” 

“You’re over exaggerating.”

The other boy grabbed Jaemin’s hand. “No, I’m not. Your hand is freezing!” He grabbed the other hand. 

Jaemin’s brain short-circuited. His hands felt warm but honestly, he couldn’t feel anything but his heart speeding up. The cute boy was so close to him. 

“Oh yeah, my name’s Renjun!” The corners of his eyes crinkled.

“M-my name is Jaemin,” Jaemin stuttered. He wanted to slap himself. He couldn’t seem to stop embarrassing himself in front of Renjun. All he could think about was how cute the name Renjun was and how cute Renjun was. 

Renjun laughed and Jaemin thought this must be what heaven sounded like. 

“I know what your name is. I don’t think anyone in this school doesn’t know about you.” Renjun rolled his eyes as if it was the most obvious thing. 

For the first time, Jaemin felt somewhat embarrassed because of that. He knew everyone knew of him because of how their principal kept boasting about him. Usually, he would just scoff at people who judged him or take pride in it. But, now he was embarrassed for reasons Jaemin couldn’t decipher. For some reason, he didn’t want Renjun to think of him as just some smart guy who knew about technology. 

“What,” Jaemin cleared his throat, “what did you need my help in?” Jaemin mentally slapped himself. He was there to NOT help the cute boy. He was there to say no and leave but there he was asking him what he wanted help in. Good going Jaemin. 

“Oh yeah!” Renjun let go of Jaemin’s hands. Jaemin internally sighed. His hands already missed the warmth. 

Renjun started walking inside the building, Jaemin following behind. The inside was the same as the outside, old and unkempt. Desks and chairs were thrown all over the place. Only some of the lights worked. There was dust everywhere. In other words, Jaemin just wanted to leave and get whatever they were doing over with. As much as he wanted to stay with Renjun a bit longer, he didn’t like sneezing every fifteen seconds. 

He didn’t even think they were even allowed there. The old building was just that: old. They were given a new and improved school building and Jaemin was pretty sure the school was going to destroy the old building too if it didn’t somehow destroy itself by next year. As to why Renjun waltzed in like he owned the place and had keys to open the front door, Jaemin didn’t know, and he didn’t want to know. Jaemin was getting mixed feelings about Renjun. 

“How come I’ve never seen you before?” Jaemin asked. He wanted to distract himself from the crumbling state of the building and the thought of it collapsing on him. 

“That’s because we don’t have any classes together,” Renjun answered. 

“Still, I think I would see you in the halls of something.” 

I think I would remember someone so cute.

Renjun snorted. “Do you even pay attention to anything besides your computer?” 

Jaemin was taken aback. Did he really seem that closed off to others? Sure he would rather fix a computer than talk to others. Sure he did eat alone at lunch. Sure he didn’t really pay attention to his classmates. But that was because he thought that he didn’t really need them. He didn’t need to remember his classmate’s name or face because in ten years when he would become rich and successful it wouldn’t matter. So why did he feel so wrong about that? Why did he feel so offended by what Renjun said? He didn’t know. 

They remained silent for the rest of the walk. 

“Here we are!” Renjun stopped at a classroom door with a sign. 

‘Paranormal Research Club’ the sign read. Jaemin raised his eyebrow. The what club? He didn’t even know such a club existed. Well, Jaemin didn’t really know a lot about his school. But he knew clubrooms should have been in the new building. Why would this club be there? It seemed to be the only club room there as he didn’t see any other signs in the other doors. 

As if Renjun was able to read his mind he explained, “We asked if we can have our clubroom here. You know a lot of spooky stuff happened in this building.” 

“Like what?” Jaemin asked. He was genuinely curious. All he knew about this building was that it was old and was going to be destroyed soon. 

Renjun gave a mischievous smile, and Jaemin was pretty sure that once he started he wouldn’t stop or let Jaemin go, but Jaemin figured he wouldn’t mind listening to Renjun rant about some ghosts. 

The only problem was that Jaemin never believed in ghosts. Maybe it was the realistic and technical side of him, but he just couldn’t wrap his head around paranormal things. It just didn’t make sense to him. The idea of a being that you couldn’t see or feel or hear just seemed unreasonable. But he wouldn’t tell Renjun that. 

He braced himself for the upcoming rant about there being ghosts in the old building but it never came. Renjun just simply opened the door. 

“As much as I want to talk about that, we would be here for hours and Jeno would get mad at me.” 

“Jeno?” It didn’t quite sit right with Jaemin, hearing Renjun say another guy’s name. 

Renjun let out another snort. “Yeah, Jeno. He’s my childhood friend and another member of this club...I’m not surprised you don’t know him.” 

“Hey! I know some people in this school!” Jaemin defended himself. He didn’t know why, though, since he really didn’t know anyone in that school. 

“Yeah, like who?” Renjun shot him a smug look. “The principal doesn’t count.” 

Jaemin grumbled. He couldn’t really argue with Renjun, but it wasn’t like he could just suddenly lie to him and tell him he knew people. Well, he could but he knew that Renjun would see right through it. 

“Let’s just fix this computer.” Jaemin sounded more annoyed than he wanted to. He hoped Renjun didn’t notice but Renjun’s cocky smirk seemed only to grow. Jaemin wanted to take back his previous comments; Renjun was definitely not cute. 

“Renjun the one who lights up the world!” Renjun flipped the light switch and the whole room lit up. Okay maybe he was still cute but Jaemin would never admit that. 

Jaemin looked around his surroundings. The classroom was filled with bookshelves. There was a bulletin board filled with papers and pins. Strings attached to the pins on the bulletin board made it look like some spider web contraption. Jaemin didn’t want to know what the heck was going on with that so he didn’t ask. He looked towards Renjun who kept eyeing said bulletin board. Maybe next time Jaemin would let him explain to him what it is. Would there be a next time, though? 

Jaemin coughed to get Renjun’s attention back. “So the computer.” 

“Oh, right,” Renjun remembered as he walked over to a cabinet and pulled out a laptop, placing it on an empty desk and opened it. “Jeno says it’s just a virus. I say a ghost hacked into it.” 

Jaemin rolled his eyes. “It’s probably just a virus, let me look into it.” 

Renjun closed the laptop and handed it carefully to Jaemin. “Okay, but when you get possessed by some ghost don’t say I didn’t warn you.” 

 

 

A blank space. That was the current state of Jaemin’s minds and what his video project looked like. Just blank. The competition specified to make a video that showed what was important to you. That was the problem; Jaemin didn’t know what was important to him. He could videotape himself editing and fixing computers, but he knew they wanted the contestants to show their life outside of that. Who would want to watch a video of him on his computer? That certainly wouldn’t give him the scholarship prize or get him scouted. 

He took a deep breath. Maybe he needed a change of pace. His eyes wandered over the laptop Renjun had given him the other day. He might as well fix it since no ideas for the video project were coming to mind. 

“There,” Jaemin triumphantly whispered. It didn’t take long for him to fix it. This Jeno guy was right, saying it was just some virus that crept into the laptop. Jaemin took a mental note to tell Renjun to give the laptop protection and maybe teach him how laptops work. Also, he should tell Renjun that he didn’t get possessed by some ghost. 

Speaking of the boy, Jaemin forgot to give Renjun his contact information, again. They didn’t even discuss when Jaemin was going to give him the laptop back. He guessed he would just give it to him after school. 

 

 

After meeting Renjun, Jaemin paid attention to the people in the hallways and classes to see if he could spot the blonde boy. He even walked around the cafeteria in hopes he would “coincidentally” run into him. To his disappointment, he didn’t. 

As school ended he felt his nerves tense up. He felt so nervous as he walked towards the old building but at the same time exhilarated. He hugged the laptop and knocked on the door, heart speeding up at the thought of seeing Renjun again. The one who greeted him at the door, however, wasn’t Renjun and Jaemin tried not to let his disappointment show. There stood a boy the same height as him, smiling with his eyes. He was handsome and cute in a way but Jaemin thought Renjun was cuter. 

“Looking for Renjun?”

“Uh...yeah.” Jaemin suddenly remembered Renjun mentioning a boy named Jeno. Maybe this was Jeno and that idea made him suddenly dislike the boy in front of him even more. 

“He’ll be here soon. You can wait in here if you would like,” Jeno gestured into the clubroom. 

“No it’s fine I’m just here to return the laptop.” Jaemin shoved the laptop towards Jeno. Jaemin didn’t want to stay with this Jeno kid. He could be wrong; the guy in front of him could be a guy named Dave or something but his gut feeling told him he was Jeno. He wished Jeno was less perfect-looking. 

“Jaemin?” 

Jaemin heard his name and turned around to see Renjun in the flesh. He kept looking better and better the more times Jaemin saw him, even if Jaemin had only seen him three times. Jaemin’s mood was already lifting, and suddenly he forgot the bad taste in his mouth looking at Jeno. 

“Yeah, I’m here to return the laptop.” Jaemin smiled, hoping the other two wouldn’t notice the panic in his eyes. 

“Oh already? That was fast. As expected of Na Jaemin,” Renjun exclaimed as he jokingly punched Jaemin. The boy stumbled a bit, not expecting it and he swears he heard Jeno chuckle. 

“Are you doing anything after school?” Renjun asked him, puppy eyes staring right into Jaemin’s own. 

Jaemin swallowed thickly, “N-no.” 

“Oh, I thought you said you were just gonna leave the laptop?” Jeno smirked. Jaemin wished he could punch that stupid smile off his face. 

“Jeno,” Renjun groaned. Jaemin was right, this was the infamous Jeno. He didn’t like him already. 

Jeno walked back inside the classroom, taking a seat by an empty desk and opening the laptop, away from the other two’s conversation. 

Renjun looked at Jaemin, his eyebrows furrowed together. “He didn’t say anything did he?” 

“No, why would he?” Jaemin questioned. 

“Oh thank god,” Renjun sighed in relief, “sometimes Jeno can be a real snitch.” 

“What would he snitch to me about?” 

Renjun bit his lip. “Nothing!” Renjun stammered when he responded, blushing. “Sometimes he tells people embarrassing stories about me.” 

Seeing Renjun flustered caused Jaemin’s heart to squeeze. He wondered if he could make the small blonde boy flustered. Jaemin put his hand on top of Renjun’s shoulder and reassured him. “Don’t worry, he didn’t say anything like that.” 

A small chuckle could be heard from the inside of the room, most likely from Jeno. Renjun shot him a dirty look before softening up his gaze when he turned back to Jaemin. “Do you want to hear the stories about this building?”

Renjun’s face glowed. He smiled so brightly Jaemin wondered if he was going blind from the brightness. He looked so excited, like some child at Disneyland. It seemed he would ramble on and on even if Jaemin said no. In the end, Jaemin agreed to listen to Renjun tell him all of the stories. Stories that Jaemin would never care about but, Renjun was telling them and he would make the stories a lot more interesting. He heard a snort coming from inside the room. What was so funny? Does this Jeno guy just laugh everything? Jaemin pondered. Renjun either didn’t hear or was too eager to tell Jaemin as he grabbed his hand and dragged him. 

It was the second time Renjun held onto Jaemin; the second time Jaemin felt warmth. 

They wandered around the school. “I think it would be better if we surround ourselves with the setting.” Renjun directed his hand towards the beaten down hallway. The sun was still up, casting a glow into the hallway. 

“What I’m about to tell you is a true story,” Renjun began as he composed himself and got into character, becoming serious. Jaemin could feel the goosebumps forming but at the same time internally cooed at Renjun and how much he was into his tale. 

“Back when this old building was the main school, there was this girl. She was constantly bullied by all her classmates. She didn’t have any friends because no one wanted to be bullied for helping her. The teachers didn’t seem to care either.” Renjun paused, “One day the bullying went too far. She got locked up in a classroom. No one showed up to unlock it. She was stuck there for the whole night. The next day she wasn’t in the classroom anymore. They found her dead outside. They concluded she jumped outside the window. The police filed it as an accident when everyone in the school knew it was suicide. They say she still haunts this building seeking revenge for those who wronged her.” 

They stopped walking. It was dark;Jaemin didn’t even notice his surroundings were getting dark. The hallway they stopped in had no sources of light, lacking any windows or ceiling lights. Jaemin didn’t want to admit how engrossed he was at the story, despite his beliefs. It was a simple and cliche horror story but, maybe it was the fact that Renjun was the one telling it that made it more interesting. Jaemin looked towards the dark hallway, figuring Renjun probably brought Jaemin to there to scare him. 

“The classroom the bullies locked her in is at the end of the hallway.” 

Jaemin stared into the dark abyss. For the first time, he felt uneasy. Normally, he would have given no reaction when someone would try and scare him. Maybe this time it was the eerie setting the hallway gave that made him jump up when Renjun yelled “Boo!” 

Renjun laughed and if it wasn’t caused by Jaemin screeching then Jaemin would’ve appreciated how nice his laugh was. However, Renjun’s laugh was directed at Jaemin, so he only felt himself heating up with embarrassment. 

“Let’s go back,” Jaemin insisted. 

“Okay scaredy pants,” Renjun teased.

Jaemin rolled his eyes, but he didn’t fail to notice the way Renjun’s hands were shaking, so Jaemin gripped it tighter. He could have teased Renjun about being scared too, but he thought it would be better if he didn’t. 

The walk back was shorter. Renjun probably took Jaemin along the scenic route so that they would stop at that particular hallway, at that exact time. As soon as they came back to the clubroom, Renjun dragged Jaemin toward the bulletin board. 

“Everyone says it’s either an accident or suicide but-” he slapped the paper in the middle of the bulletin board. It looked like a newspaper article about the death. “-what if it was murder.”

Jeno groaned and scoffed. 

“Is there something you wanted to say Jeno?” Renjun crossed his arms, challenging his friend. 

“Yeah, don’t bring Jaemin into your wild theories.” 

“It’s not a wild theory,” Renjun defended as he gripped his own forearms tighter, “If you listened to me you would understand.” 

“The police investigated it and found that she was trying to escape from something and slipped out the window by accident.” 

Renjun rolled his eyes and scoffed, “When are the police ever right?” 

“Wait,” Jaemin pondered for a bit, “if the police are right then what was she trying to escape from?” 

Jeno shrugged at the same time Renjun gasped, “Jaemin you’re a genius!” 

“I am?” Jaemin was puzzled by Renjun’s response.

“This just proves more that she was murdered,” Renjun noted as he grabbed a marker and started drawing on the not-so-clean whiteboard. 

“How does-“ Jeno tried to argue back but Renjun was already too preoccupied with whatever he was doing. “Nevermind,” Jeno muttered and returned to the laptop. “Try not to engage with him too much,” he told Jaemin. 

It was too late though. Who was he to stop Renjun? He would rather listen to Renjun talk about the ghost stories of the whole country than fix some computer--Wait. Jaemin replayed that thought again. Usually, he would rather be alone with his devices. Usually, he would get tired of hearing people talk. Usually, he would be too preoccupied with his gadgets and coding to be able topay attention to classes or people. But, today he did just that and all because of a boy named Huang Renjun. Nothing was usual when it came to Renjun, and it scared Jaemin. The idea that Renjun was changing him scared him. But, he also liked it. 

“C’mon,” Renjun gestured for Jaemin to come closer. “So my theory is she wasn’t in the classroom alone. There was someone else there with her. Someone that ultimately killed her.” 

“Okay, but who would do that?” 

Renjun smiled mischievously. “A lot of people. I narrowed it down to three. Her homeroom teacher,” Renjun pointed to a picture of a middle age woman in the bulletin board. His finger followed a red string that connected that picture to another picture. The picture was of a high school girl “the class president,” and he points to the last picture of the triangle, “or the girl herself.” 

 

 

“Hey.”

Jaemin jumped up at the sudden greeting. He was getting ready to leave the clubroom when Jeno suddenly pulled him out, closing the door in the process. Jeno’s eye smile disappeared, the air suddenly turning tense. 

“Did you need to talk to me?” Jaemin asked, confused.

“Yeah, are you gonna continue coming here?” 

“Why, do you not want me here?”

Jeno placed his hands on top of Jaemin’s shoulders. His serious expression softened. “No, no please stay. This was the most I’ve seen Renjun so expressive since he received the news that they’re gonna renovate the place. He usually doesn’t show anyone this side of him, but he opened up so easily to you. I just don’t want him to go through people leaving him again.”

“Again?” 

“Yeah, sometimes when people get to see this side of him they get weirded out. But I can tell that you’re a good person because you didn’t look at him with disgust or judgment. I told you to not engage him too much, but I didn’t mean that. Show him that it’s okay for him to act like himself.” 

Jaemin pried Jeno’s hands off his shoulders. “I wasn’t thinking of leaving him,” Jaemin snapped.

“Then it’s safe to assume you’ll be here more often?”

Jaemin nodded. 

Jeno’s eyes crinkled, his lips curling back up into a smile. “I’m glad,” he admitted as he extended his hand, “We haven’t had a proper greeting. I’m Jeno.”

With slight hesitation, Jaemin completed the handshake. “I’m Jaemin.”

Jeno’s hand gripped tighter, his voice dropping to a menacing snarl, “The day you make Renjun cry is the day you die.” Jeno opened the clubroom door. “Bye Jaemin and thanks for fixing my laptop.” He gave Jaemin one last smile before shutting the door in his face. 

Jaemin stood there motionless, staring at the door wondering what just happened. This Jeno guy was...kind of intimidating. In any case, Jaemin wanted to see Renjun smile, not his tears so he knew there was nothing to be scared about. On the way back home Jaemin couldn’t help but feel uneasy. What if he somehow hurt Renjun and didn’t even know about it? Jaemin decided to just sleep the thought off.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In Renjun’s POV :)

It was always there. Ever since Renjun was a kid it was just always there. At first his parents would say it was due to his large amount of imagination. Of course, that was just something his parents wanted to believe. How would you feel if your child was nothing short of a freak? Cause that’s what Renjun was, a freak. It didn’t take long for Renjun to notice that he was different.

No one could see it, the black smoke. At first Renjun didn’t know what it was or why he was the only person who can see it. Well, he still didn’t know why he was cursed. But, he knew what it was or at least the idea of it. For one, it only appeared on humans. Two, it appeared on people who were close to death. 

Well, that was just Renjun’s hypothesis anyways. The thick fog only surrounded people who were old and close to dying. That’s why Renjun tried everything he could to avoid places with lots of people on the brink of death. There was one moment when Renjun had some strong allergic reaction to who knows what. It was torture for the most part. Let’s just say being in a room full of black smoke, in what he believed to be was the emergency room, did not help his deathly allergic reaction to go down. 

So, Renjun was ninety-nine percent sure that the black smoke is the reaper or something related to death. That was only what he knew and he was gonna keep it at that. While it seemed interesting to find out just exactly what he was seeing, it wasn’t very smart to mess with death. That’s why he tried to live a normal life. He kept his mouth shut about his supernatural powers even to his own best friend, Jeno. 

Renjun trying to live a normal life didn’t deter him from the supernatural. In fact, his ability somewhat pushed him to delve more into the world of the unknown. Ironically, it made him feel somewhat normal. 

Despite only having like three friends Renjun liked school. There was usually no smoke to be seen around and it had the old building. The old building which housed a lot of paranormal activity. Somehow, despite the amount of dust, it felt like a second home for Renjun. Jeno was nice enough to indulge Renjun with his crazy wild theories. He didn’t know what he would have done without someone like Jeno to keep him grounded. 

When the two got permission to use a room in the old building, Renjun was ecstatic. Renjun spent a good month exploring the whole school, in broad daylight and with Jeno by his side of course. As he explored the place there was one room that kept drawing him in. The room came to be their clubroom. It was there that Renjun saw the newspaper articles that covered the death of one of the students. It was also where he found the notebook.

It was torn and many pages were missing but it was no doubt the notebook of the student who died. What was interesting was that she had described seeing black smoke from her classmate; the class president to be more precise. But, if that was true then shouldn’t the class president be the one that died? What if the black smoke was different for her? Why did she die? Renjun had so many questions and no answers. He thought that maybe because his ability existed then it wouldn’t be that surprising for ghosts to also exist. 

Renjun had a mission. He was gonna hunt some ghosts and find some answers. The thing is though Renjun was kinda afraid of ghosts. You would think that because he’d grown up in supernatural elements that he would be used to it by now. It’s the opposite, however: the more Renjun learns about the unknown the more scared he is of it. The more he knows the more he realizes that he really knows nothing. That didn’t stop him from wanting to learn more though. Still, he couldn’t even enter half of the old building by himself. He needed help. 

The first person he thought of was Jeno, but Jeno would ask why. Then as the deeper they would investigate the more Jeno would likely find out about Renjun. Jeno would most definitely freak out. There would be a chance that he’d try to stop Renjun or worse stop being friends with him, and Renjun didn’t want to risk that. He was probably overreacting, but Renjun can’t help but overreact; Jeno was really his only friend. 

Enter: Jaemin. As Renjun was trying to recruit Mark, he showed up. Mark worked in the library and he told Renjun that Jaemin always showed up after school. The thing was, Renjun knew of Jaemin, but he never really looked at the guy properly until now. 

Jaemin walked straight to the corner of the library and opened his laptop. He was handsome no doubt. It was no wonder so many girls fawned over the boy. He was smart and handsome, a whole package deal. That wasn’t what caught Renjun’s eye though. 

It was the smoke emanating from Jaemin. 

It was faint. Renjun had to take a double take but after like the third time trying, and failing, to discreetly glance at the boy, it was clear. It was smoke. Renjun’s stomach dropped. He didn’t want to deal with this, he should most definitely stay away from the boy. 

Except it was now harder to not notice him in the crowded hallway or the cafeteria. Renjun couldn’t help but stare at the boy and it seemed his childhood friend also noticed this. 

“You should talk to him,” Jeno had said during lunch. 

Renjun choked on his chocolate milk. “Who?” he coughed. 

“Jaemin,” Jeno stated flatly. 

“No.”

Jeno wrinkled his eyes. “You know what maybe you should go up to Jaemin and ask him to repair my laptop.” 

Renjun scoffed, “You just want me to help you fix your laptop.”

“Perhaps” Jeno shrugged, “It’s also been a long time since you’ve been interested in someone.” 

Renjun quickly dismissed him, “I’m not interested.” 

It was a small lie. Perhaps Renjun was a tiny bit interested in Jaemin. He shouldn’t be. He shouldn’t have taken Jeno’s laptop when the bells rang. He shouldn’t be walking towards Jaemin and asking him for help. But, he was. He wanted to know more about Jaemin and why there was smoke coming from him. In a way Renjun wanted to save Jaemin. Okay, perhaps, Renjun was more than a little bit interested. 

Talking to Jaemin was weird. The second Renjun stepped right in front of him, Renjun could feel the butterflies in his stomach. When Renjun got nervous he blabbered about the paranormal because it always calmed him down and it was the only thing he could talk about without being a sputtered mess. It was one reason why he failed to make many friends. He always had scared them off somehow. 

So, Renjun didn’t expect Jaemin to smile at him while he talked. It was weird. Definitely weird. The butterflies didn’t seem to go away. He also didn’t expect Jaemin to agree, since he barely accepted favors from students. Renjun didn’t think this far ahead. 

He also didn’t think it would be so easy to talk with Jaemin. To be honest, Renjun was a bit intimidated by him. It always felt like Jaemin was in a different league than everyone else. A whole different universe that Renjun couldn’t reach. But the more he talked to Jaemin the more he couldn’t stop. It’d been a long time since anyone besides Jeno cared enough to listen to his tangents. 

Jaemin didn’t seem to be the type of person to believe in what Renjun was saying. He seemed to be more of a realist, but that didn’t stop him from listening intently to Renjun. Maybe Jaemin was the one he needed for his mission. He needed someone to balance him and Jaemin seemed to be the right person for that. 

What Renjun was not gonna do was tell Jaemin straight up about his abilities. Not like Jaemin would even believe him, but he didn’t want to tell Jaemin yet. He would ease into it. He’d tell him the story to get Jaemin to be even a little bit interested. Well, it wasn’t like he needed Jaemin to help him figure out a whole mystery case. He just needed Jaemin to be there with him as he explored the school. Renjun would be the one trying to figure everything out and maybe he’d get his head around his abilities. 

As much as he didn’t want to mess around with death, he also didn't like not knowing anything. He wanted to figure out his abilities. Renjun reveled in trying to find answers. It may not be about solving math problems or chemical equations but, Renjun liked trying to figure things out, especially if it involved the supernatural. 

The thing is, Renjun kinda wanted someone to help him figure things out. Mystery solvers were always in duos. Also, Jaemin was smart. Renjun needed someone calculated to balance his imagination. The more and more he thought about it the more he wanted Jaemin as a partner. Like a partner in crime. It’d be fun. Renjun was shaking with excitement as he thought about it. He could already picture them staying up in the clubroom talking about their ideas. 

And. 

And maybe he’d figure out how to save Jaemin. Or maybe he’d find out that the smoke didn’t even have to do with death and that Jaemin was fine. In any case, Renjun wanted to stick with Jaemin. For some reason, Jaemin made him feel complete. 

...

Jeno closed the door after sending Jaemin off. It was the day Renjun gave a special tour around the school for Jaemin. At first, Renjun had thought that Jaemin only listened to him because he was nice. But, this time Jaemin indulged in Renjun’s theories. Jaemin becoming his mystery partner didn’t seem as impossible as Renjun had originally thought. 

“Jaemin, huh?” Jeno nudged Renjun causing the shorter to fall back a bit. 

“Shut up.” Renjun tried to nudge Jeno back but it didn’t have the same effect. He huffed, “Don’t pretend you weren’t threatening Jaemin just a minute ago.”

“I’m just looking out for you,” Jeno explained.

Renjun rolled his eyes, “I can take care of myself.” 

Jeno smiled and if Renjun wasn’t so immune to it he would’ve been fooled by it. 

“I know you can,” Jeno agreed, something he rarely did, “I’m just worried.” 

“You’re always worried.”

Jeno was a worry wart. He would stress over the simplest of things, but he would hide them in this big facade. Renjun knew that. He also knew that Jeno didn’t really confide in anyone, not even to Renjun and he’d been friends with Jeno for most of his life. Granted, Renjun also never told Jeno about his abilities so, maybe they were even. Still, Renjun told Jeno mostly everything, but Jeno told him… well, not a lot of things once Renjun thought about it. 

On the other hand, Renjun knew the foods that Jeno likes, what classes stressed him out, and little things like that, just because they’d known each other for so long. So, maybe Jeno wasn’t much of a talker about himself but Renjun knew Jeno. Or at least that was what Renjun liked to believe. 

Jeno shrugged, “We should go home. It’s getting dark.” 

You see, Jeno also knew Renjun and he knew that Renjun doesn’t like walking in the dark hallways. Most of the time, Renjun didn’t even like walking in the hallways alone in broad daylight. Jaemin didn’t need to know that though. Speaking of Jaemin, today was one of those rare days that Renjun wasn’t scared of walking down the old hallways. As he was walking towards the old building he had seen Jaemin entering. In his mind he just wanted to talk to Jaemin and his fear was pushed off. 

They were walking towards the exit when Jeno had interrupted their comfortable silence. “If you want you can always come talk to me about your crush on Jaemin.” 

“I do not have a crush on him!” Renjun defended himself a little bit too fast for comfort. He tried to regain himself, hoping that Jeno wouldn’t think otherwise. “I just like talking to him.” 

Renjun also liked the way Jaemin’s eyes twinkled as he listened to Renjun. He also liked the way he smiled. He also liked the way his hands felt so comfortable and warm holding his. He hoped that Jaemin would come to the clubroom again tomorrow. 

Totally not because he had a crush on Jaemin

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, there’s that. I love foreshadowing :)  
> I’ve been so motivated to write lately and now I really want to write the whole thing. I love renmin. Thank you for the people who gave kudos and comments! It may not look much but they mean a lot to me, each and every one, and they’re what helped me to be so motivated to write! I hope you guys stick with me through the end it’s gonna be a ride,,,


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the late-ish update it was finals season,,,,anyways there isn’t really that much plot development here it’s honestly mostly the calm before the storm lmao

It was the third time Jaemin had set foot in front of the ‘Paranormal Research Club’ sign. Soon the route from his last class to here would be second nature. Before, he would just immediately walk straight home or to the library. This was the first time in a while since Jaemin had felt this eager. The last time he’d been so excited was when he first learned how to code. 

In a way, Renjun was kind of similar to coding. For Jaemin, Renjun was something he couldn’t quite understand. Renjun confused Jaemin. The way he blabbered on and on about the supernatural. The way his eyes crinkled when he smiled. The way his head would tilt back from laughing so much; the way he would make Jaemin’s heart skip a beat. The more Jaemin spends time with Renjun the more Renjun would complicate his thoughts. The difference was that coding was so much easier to understand and learn. 

He didn’t know why he was so inclined to spend everyday after school with Renjun. He was just naturally drawn to him. There was just something about the boy that got Jaemin wrapped up. 

As soon as he opened the door Renjun handed him a camcorder. 

Jaemin raised his eyebrow, looking down at what was just given to him. “What’s this?”

“A camcorder? I thought you were a tech guy,” Renjun asked in a way that stated it more as an obvious fact.

“I know what a camcorder is,” Jaemin huffed, “I wanted to know why you suddenly gave it to me.”

The corners of Renjun’s mouth curled up a bit. “I’ve always wanted to record my paranormal adventures and what better person to do it with than with you?” 

Jaemin couldn’t help but feel a tinge of happiness consume him. Renjun wanted to do something he’d always wanted to with Jaemin. 

“Besides I don’t know how to work a camcorder,” Renjun continued. 

Oh. Jaemin was only the one guy who knows how to edit videos. That hint of happiness disappeared, but he tried not to let it show. Much to Jaemin’s dismay Renjun picked up his change of mood. 

“I was kidding. I think we’re pretty compatible with each other.” 

Jaemin’s breath hitched. What did Renjun mean by that?

“I-I mean,” Renjun stuttered, his face flushed, “like partners meant for each other.”

Jaemin’s mind went blank. 

Renjun bit his lip, “Wait that was worded even more weirdly.” He grabbed the camcorder back. “Let’s just start on our investigation.” 

There was a tinge of pink on the tip of Renjun’s ears that didn’t disappear on the remainder of their walk. Whether or not Jaemin noticed, he didn’t comment. His heart didn’t stop stammering either. 

Jaemin almost bumped into Renjun when the shorter boy abruptly stopped in front of the library doors. Renjun was close, like really close. It made Jaemin a bit dizzy. It would be a lie to say that Jaemin didn’t think of hugging Renjun, especially at that moment. There was a faint smell of vanilla before it disappeared when Renjun walked in the library, furthering the gap between him and Jaemin. Jaemin was kind of disappointed. More like he was really disappointed, but he didn’t want to admit it to himself. 

“The first step is to do some research,” Renjun whispered. 

He walked in front of the front desk. There stood a male student focusing on something on the computer before smiling brightly at Renjun. 

“Oh Renjun! Long time no see,” he beamed. 

“Mark, we saw each other yesterday,” Renjun recounted. 

It had been at least a year since Jaemin first saw this person and it was the first time he had found out his name. Jaemin frequently went to the library too. He felt somewhat guilty for not knowing a simple name. Maybe he needed to pay more attention to his surroundings and not just himself. 

“You’re with Jaemin?” Mark asked, sounding genuinely curious. 

“Yeah we're gonna research about the death of the student on the old building.” 

“Oh.” Mark shifted uncomfortably. He glanced at Jaemin. Jaemin could’ve sworn he looked almost worried, but he turned too quickly back to Renjun for him to notice. “Not with Jeno?” 

The sound of Jeno’s name made Jaemin’s stomach drop a bit. 

Renjun fiddled with the string of his jacket. “No. I didn’t want to bother Jeno, with his student council duties and all.” 

Mark nodded, “He has been stressing out about the school festival.” He looked over at Jaemin, acknowledging that he was there listening to their whole conversation. “When did you two become friends?” 

Friends. Is that what him and Renjun are? Friends? Is that what it looks like to people? That they were friends? Jaemin never asked if he and Renjun were friends. He hoped they were. It sounded nice. He tried to not think of how nicer boyfriend sounded. 

It seemed Renjun didn’t have the same internal dilemma. He didn’t seem that bothered by the fact that Mark has called them friends. Jaemin was overthinking this. Most people just made friends naturally but, then again, Jaemin wasn’t most people. 

“Oh just recently. He’s accompanying me on my investigation.” 

“Oh, is he?” Mark mumbled to himself.

He seemed to be contemplating something. His eyes darkened but Renjun didn’t notice. He was too busy telling Jaemin his plan but Jaemin noticed in the corner of his eyes how much Mark seemed to change his whole demeanor once Renjun’s focus was away from him. It seemed weird and maybe Jaemin should’ve questioned it but Renjun was really enthusiastic about the whole thing and Jaemin couldn’t help but feel excited too. Mark’s weird behavior wasn’t his priority right now. 

Besides, Jaemin barely knew Mark, he was probably just overthinking the situation. But, his gut feeling told him he should talk to Mark. He doesn’t know what about though. This whole thing just felt off, but it was too late to back off now. He liked Renjun far too much to just cancel the whole thing. Jaemin was finally making a friend. Maybe Jaemin was a bit too happy making a friend when just a few days ago he was fine being alone. Then again, that was before he met Renjun. 

“So we’re friends?” Jaemin asked as nonchalantly as possible as they were in the middle of researching. 

“Would you do this if we weren’t friends?” Renjun gestured around the scattered books on top of the table. 

In all honesty Jaemin didn’t quite understand why they needed to do this amount of research. It’s not like any of the books even pertained to what they were looking for or at least what Jaemin thought they were looking for. Weren’t they trying to solve some mystery case? All Renjun had picked up were books about spirits and the supernatural. One was even about some death premonition. Jaemin was surprised to see that the library housed so many different books about the supernatural. 

Jaemin was the last person to be reading these types of books but here he was perched in the corner of the library reading about the spirit realm because of Renjun. Is this really what friends would do? Would Renjun bother to learn a bit about technology for Jaemin’s sake? Or listen to Jaemin talk about the ins and outs of coding? It seemed highly unlikely. 

“I don’t know,” Jaemin answered honestly. 

“Do you like spending time with me?” 

“I think I do.” 

“Then we’re friends.”

It was simple, maybe too simple, which made it complicated. Jaemin was thinking too much into it as usual and Renjun was already preoccupied with a different book. Jaemin studied the way Renjun furrowed his eyebrows as he concentrated, the way he would slick back his hair from time to time, and the way he would tap his fingers and hum. Jaemin noticed the little habits of Renjun's instead of focusing on the books that laid in front of him. He didn’t think that this is what friends do or maybe it was, but Jaemin wouldn’t know. 

…

Jaemin absentmindedly ate his lunch until an all-too-familiar boy sat next to him. Renjun acted as if he didn’t just altered Jaemin’s normal routine. Although, Renjun had crashed into Jaemin’s life like a colossal wave and shifted everything. He wasn’t complaining though; it was a nice change. Eating alone didn’t seem as inviting as it once was. Besides, he gets to spend more time with Renjun and Jaemin wanted to spend every second with him. He welcomed the change wholeheartedly. 

There was a comfortable silence until Renjun spoke, “So today after school we should explore the school a bit. Not in the classroom yet though, we should save that for last.”

Jaemin nodded. 

“And we're gonna record today. We couldn’t yesterday ‘cause all we did was read. That’s not what the people want.” 

Jaemin didn’t know who the people were that Renjun was referring to. Still, he didn’t question it. It did seem fun to do this whole video recording thing. Maybe in the future they’ll look back and laugh at the absurdity of this. Perhaps that’s youth, just doing dumb things with friends and enjoying the moment. 

“What do the people want?” 

Renjun laughed. “The people want something interesting.” 

There was a hint of mischief in his eyes that disappeared when they walked the dark hallways of the old school. Renjun instinctively had his arms wrapped around Jaemin’s. Jaemin tried focusing on the camcorder to distract from the mental breakdown he was currently having. Renjun did smell of vanilla, Jaemin noted.

“So,” Renjun swallowed thickly, “there’s this janitor’s closet at the end of this hall. I heard that it’s where the ghost would hide. Well, back when the ghost was alive.” 

Renjun squeezed Jaemin’s arm and Jaemin thought it wouldn’t be a good idea to tell him to stop even if Renjun seemed to be cutting off the circulation in his arms. So instead he tried distracting him, in hopes that it would make him relax a bit. 

“What’s the mission? Like, what are we gonna do when we’re in there? Find a ghost?” 

“No,” Renjun scoffed, “We’re looking for clues, dummy.” 

Jaemin could feel his arms again as Renjun’s tension began to subdue. The janitor’s closet was mostly empty and despite Jaemin not believing in spirits, he couldn’t help but feel queasy. It was a bit hard to breathe and he didn’t know if it was because of the eerie atmosphere or because of the way Renjun held his hand. Maybe it was the latter. Jaemin began to video tape Renjun as he looked for any clues. He had honestly forgotten about the camcorder but it had been recording their whole walk over here. Hopefully, it didn’t record Jaemin spazzing out from being so close to Renjun. 

He watched through the camcorder what Renjun was doing. Jaemin was totally focusing on whatever Renjun wanted him to record and not on how pretty Renjun was. They were in some musty janitor’s closet and all Jaemin could think about was how boopable Renjun’s nose was. Jaemin needs to get his thoughts sorted out. 

Renjun squinted at something and used his phone as a light to see what it was better. There was a piece of paper in between a mop and a wall. It was kinda suspicious to see it just lying there out in the open like someone put it there to be found. Maybe Jeno put it there to indulge Renjun a bit but Jaemin hadn’t really seen Jeno since their whole talk. 

“What is it?” Jaemin asked. 

Renjun carefully picked it up and took a quick glance before folding it up and putting it in his pocket. “Nothing.” 

Jaemin raised a brow. It wouldn’t be nothing if Renjun thought it was important enough to take with him. Jaemin decided not to question him. 

“We should head back before the sun sets,” Renjun suggested. 

Jaemin nodded in agreement. There was a hint of determination in Renjun’s eyes that faltered a bit when he looked at Jaemin. Renjun didn’t let go of Jaemin’s hand the whole walk back. 

…

Renjun insisted that they walk out of the building together. Jaemin knew that Renjun was too scared to walk alone but was too prideful to tell Jaemin that. And Jaemin knew that telling Renjun that he knew that he was scared would only make Renjun mad or embarrassed or both and Jaemin didn’t necessarily want that. So, Jaemin just agreed to walk together. It was awkward saying their goodbyes and then walking at the same direction. After their awkward not-so-goodbye, Jaemin didn’t know when exactly he should say his farewells. 

It was a surprise for both of them to notice how close their houses actually were. Renjun was only a block away from Jaemin’s house. When Jaemin asked why he never seen him walking to school, Renjun told him that he always walked to school early. 

“Do you want to go to school together?” Renjun asked as they stopped in front of Jaemin’s house. “I only walk to school early cause of Jeno but he has Mark so I don’t think he’ll mind if I walk with you instead.”

Renjun was trying to look everywhere but at Jaemin. He was blushing, causing Jaemin to blush as well. “Oh. Sure,” Jaemin answered, trying to contain himself. 

Renjun fiddled with the strings of his jacket, something Jaemin noticed to be a little habit that he did when nervous. “I’ll see you tomorrow?” Renjun asked. The ending of the word tomorrow sounded a bit higher than the rest. 

It sounded as if Renjun was anticipating Jaemin's agreement, and Jaemin being one to not want to disappoint Renjun, nodded in agreement. He watched as Renjun’s mouth formed into a wide smile. He waved back at the same time Renjun waved enthusiastically as he ran towards his home. 

Jaemin couldn’t wait for tomorrow. 

Except he still didn’t give Renjun his number so he didn’t know how exactly they would walk home together. He figured he’d just cross that bridge when he got to it. 

What he didn’t plan was for Renjun to be in his room when he woke up. Jaemin practically jumped out of his bed and crashed onto the floor when he saw Renjun. Renjun laughed and if Jaemin wasn’t so whipped for Renjun and his laugh, then maybe he would’ve felt more embarrassed than he was right now. Since, Jaemin was in fact really whipped for the boy and his laugh, his embarrassment was pushed away with a feeling of fondness. 

“Good morning!” Renjun drew the curtains aside to let the sunshine in. Jaemin squinted his eyes in retaliation. 

“Good morning,” Jaemin greeted back, albeit less enthusiastically. 

“I didn’t know how we were gonna meet since we don’t have each other’s numbers so I just knocked on your door. I told your mom that I was your friend and she just let me in. She kept telling me about how she was worried that her son didn’t have any friends so she was relieved to see that you had at least one.” 

Jaemin didn’t have the energy to tell Renjun a made up story about having friends so he just continued listening to Renjun as he got ready. Renjun scavenged Jaemin’s room as he waited for Jaemin to get ready but was disappointed to find nothing really interesting. Jaemin’s room was neat and orderly, he was grateful for his past self for cleaning the place.

“Don’t you have things other than school supplies and textbooks? At least like a poster or something?” Renjun questioned as he sat on top of Jaemin’s bed and opened a textbook. 

“Not really,” answered Jaemin as he picked an outfit to wear. 

“Your clothes don’t really tell me anything either,” Renjun sighed.

It was too early to try and figure out why Renjun was disappointed with Jaemin’s choice of fashion. “What would you like them to tell?”

“I don’t know just more about you I guess.” Renjun closed the textbook and placed it on top of the nightstand. 

Jaemin was trying to decide which pair of jeans to wear. “Why would you want to learn more about me?”

“ ‘Cause you’re my friend. Don’t you want to learn more about me?” 

Of course Jaemin did, but he didn’t want to admit that to Renjun. It would seem weird to want to know what type of person Renjun likes or how he would like his eggs cooked in the morning. “I’m not very interesting.” 

“I doubt that. What made you interested in tech?” 

Jaemin didn’t want to tell Renjun that it was due to his lack of friends. It was really just a form of distraction. He could always turn to his computer, it was just always there. He didn’t have to worry about being judged or thinking about people’s opinions of him. Jaemin tended to over complicate situations and overthink. 

As much as he says he doesn’t really care about what other people think, in the end he cared the most. It was one of the reason why his room was so empty, so that no one would judge him. But here Renjun was judging him for not putting anything. People were really hard to please. 

He just smiled, not really answering Renjun’s question. 

… 

“That coffee is really dark,” Renjun commented. 

Jaemin’s mom must have taken a liking to Renjun because now Renjun was eating breakfast with him. Maybe his mom was always this hospitable but this was the first time Jaemin brought a friend home. More like Renjun barged into his home but the details didn’t matter. His mom has already left for work when they got to the kitchen. She had prepared breakfast for the two of them. 

As it turns out Renjun didn’t eat breakfast before coming. He told Jaemin that he never really ate breakfast. He would sometimes have a granola bar or a banana but never a whole meal. Jaemin’s mom used to always have Jaemin eat something before going to school. In elementary school she used to just watch Jaemin eat breakfast to make sure he eats properly; now, she trusts him enough. If she heard what Renjun said she would’ve had Renjun eat breakfast with Jaemin everyday. Not that that was a bad thing. 

Renjun took a sip from Jaemin’s mug. He made a disgusted face and then put the mug back. 

Jaemin shrugged, “I like it like that.” 

He glanced at Renjun’s cup of coffee. It was light brown. Renjun must have put in a lot of creamer, Jaemin noted. Next time, he’ll make sure to put the sugar container on the table. 

…

Jaemin placed his backpack underneath the table. Renjun was too preoccupied with watching something on his computer to even greet Jaemin. 

“Here!” Renjun grabbed Jaemin’s arm and yanked it a bit towards him. “Do you see it?” 

It looked like Renjun was watching the recording of their investigation of the janitor’s closet. Renjun had pointed to what seemed to be nothing. The only thing Jaemin could really point out is the speck of dust on the computer monitor but Renjun wouldn’t be excited over that. 

“The ghost!” Renjun groaned. 

Jaemin looked closer but still he saw nothing. It seemed Renjun was more into finding the ghost than solving the mystery of who the murderer was. Or maybe Renjun didn’t to solve it. Jaemin really couldn’t decipher what was going on in Renjun’s head. 

Renjun pouted, mumbling about how he definitely saw a ghost and how blind Jaemin was. Jaemin wanted to question about the paper Renjun had found that day but before he could ask the lights went off and on again. The building was old and Jaemin was pretty sure no one had checked the utilities in a while. It was pretty reasonable for the lights to go off. Renjun didn’t seem to think the same way as he instinctively gripped onto Jaemin’s arms. He was shaking. 

“Maybe we should leave early,” Jaemin suggested. 

“G-good idea.”

Renjun practically jumped away from Jaemin when he looked at him. He looked almost mortified. Was he… scared of him? 

“S-sorry,” he stammered, “I thought I saw something behind you.” 

“It’s okay,” Jaemin lied. 

Renjun still had this look of fear in his eyes that seemed to be directed at him. It didn’t stop Renjun from gripping Jaemin through their walk outside. His grip felt different though, like as if Renjun was holding on to him, not because he’s scared, but because he didn’t want Jaemin to disappear. It was a silly thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What a silly thought :)


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry this is late i’ve been having writer’s block and it took me so long to write this but it’s here

Renjun breathed in and out, in and out. It didn’t help. He tightly closed his eyes. It didn’t help either. There was no denying it, the smoke was getting thicker. Renjun was running out of time. Nothing made sense, the more he tried to figure things out the more complicated everything gets. He gripped Jaemin’s arm tighter. 

“I’m sure it was just faulty wiring,” reassured Jaemin. 

Ah, right. 

Honestly, Renjun had forgotten about the light flicker. He was far too concerned about the boy next to him. Renjun had the hunch that he was doing more harm than good. The paper he had found didn’t reassure him either. He had to find some sort of solution, some sort of answer, but all he got were questions. 

He needed to think of something. He needed Jaemin to be safe. Renjun had grown fond of Jaemin, more than he would like to admit. It hasn’t been that long but it sure did feel like it. It was comfortable to be with Jaemin. Being with Jaemin made Renjun feel like everything would be...alright. It almost made him forget about the smoke surrounding Jaemin. Almost. 

There was only so much Renjun could do. There was only so much he can ignore. The more he time he spent with Jaemin the more he wanted to find a way to save him. The thing was that Renjun felt as if being with him was worsening everything. He couldn’t help it though. He couldn’t help being with Jaemin. 

Maybe it was the way his eyes looked when Renjun went on his long tangents. Maybe it was the way their hands fit perfectly together. Maybe, it was the way his voice just perfectly melted Renjun. Jaemin was a mystery that Renjun wanted to solve. He wanted to know why he thought about Jaemin everyday after they’d first met. He wanted to know why he felt so giddy whenever they talked. He wanted to know what was so special about Jaemin. 

“You can let go now.”

Hesitatingly, Renjun let go of Jaemin’s arm. He didn’t realize they’d already walked outside. 

“I think we should,” Renjun paused, “We should start meeting in the library from now on.”

“If you’re scared you can tell me you know.” 

Jaemin probably thought Renjun was scared of going in the old building. Well, technically, he wasn’t wrong per se. There was nothing wrong with Renjun making Jaemin believe that he was just scared of going in the building. It would certainly be better than trying to explain to him that Renjun had a hunch that going inside the building would result in Jaemin’s death. 

…

The clock read 2:34 A.M. as Renjun stared at the ceiling for what appeared to have been two hours. He kicked his blanket off of him and sighed. Maybe a glass of water would help him. He simply couldn’t sleep. He hadn’t been able to for the last couple of days. Who would be able to if they were in Renjun’s situation? 

He recalled the piece of paper he found while he and Jaemin explored the janitor’s closet. That stupid piece of paper. It was part of the notebook that Renjun found. It further described how the ghost saw the class president’s smoke. They were apparently friends. The ghost was apparently trying to save the class president. It was weirdly similar to Renjun’s situation right now. 

It seemed dangerous, but then again Renjun’s life was never safe, not with the ability to see the smoke and all. Renjun probably attracted bad energy or maybe it was the other way around and that Renjun was attracted to bad energy. Either way, Renjun just wanted to solve whatever he got himself into. If there was even a solution...No, Renjun had to think positively. 

He also couldn’t risk the fog on Jaemin getting even thicker. Renjun had an inkling that the more Jaemin got involved with this ghost mystery, the thicker the fog became. On the other hand, Renjun couldn’t simply just do everything himself. He couldn’t even walk the hallways by himself, how was he supposed to explore the haunted classroom? That was the next location. Renjun shuddered at the thought. 

Jeno was busy; Renjun hadn’t seen the other since the plans for the cultural festival started. Usually, Jeno would just work in their clubroom, but Jeno told him that he trusted Jaemin enough. Renjun knew Jeno just didn’t want to walk back and forth between the old and new building. Still, one day couldn’t hurt right? 

The rise of the morning sun interrupted Renjun’s thoughts. He got ready and headed towards Jaemin’s house. Jaemin and his mom seemed to have noticed his lack of sleep. Jaemin offered his coffee that Renjun refused profusely. 

Time worked very differently when the only sleep you’d been having was the thirty minute nap in calculus class. School was a blur. Renjun had a one track mind and that was to find Jeno and force him to go with him to the haunted classroom. It had slipped his mind to let Jaemin know that he could go home. 

Renjun was in front of the student council room door when he heard Mark. 

“Jeno this is serious.”

“I’m listening.” Jeno sounded like he was preoccupied with something. There was a faint sound of writing on paper. 

“Aren’t you supposed to be protecting him? I know this whole family business and student council work is stressing you out but—” Mark was interrupted by the abrupt sound of a hand slamming on a table. 

“But what?” Jeno questioned, he sounded weirdly calm, no it was more like he was trying to sound collected. “You can’t just expect me to fix everything.” He sighed. 

Renjun could barely make out the whispered, “I’m telling you I can help,” from Mark. 

There was a pregnant silence that filled the room. Renjun figured he probably shouldn’t have heard this conversation. Maybe he’d ask Jeno another time or better yet, maybe he’d ask Mark to accompany him. Before Renjun could walk away, Mark opened the door. 

The two stared at each other. Mark stared at him wide-eyed like some kid who was caught stealing a cookie. Renjun locked eyes with Jeno and couldn’t help but wonder what happened in the last few days he was gone. Jeno looked, in short, like a mess. His hair was disheveled and his eye bags were prominent. Jeno was the type of person who cared about appearance and Renjun had never seen him wear sweats to school, but there he was in what looked like something he would wear to sleep.

Renjun had never seen Jeno like that and he thought that if it did get so bad then he would have at least told Renjun something. Renjun felt betrayed that his only close friend didn’t seem to trust him. He also felt somewhat bad that he didn’t check up on his friend. 

“Did you hear everything?” Mark asked which broke Renjun’s attention from Jeno. 

Renjun shook his head prompting Mark to let out a sigh of relief. 

“Did you need anything?” Jeno asked. 

Renjun wanted to ask the same question to Jeno but refrained himself. “No, I just wanted to check up on you.” 

It was a lie and Renjun knew his best friend would pick up on it or maybe not since Jeno seemed to be on his own little world right now. He didn’t know why he lied. It just didn’t seem like a good time to ask Jeno for favors, especially something Jeno believed was miniscule. 

Jeno simply nodded and went back to work on whatever he was working on. It seemed he didn’t want to tell Renjun as to why he seemed so restless and agitated. Mark, who Renjun had forgotten was there, looked at him worryingly. There were suddenly so many more questions that Renjun and his lack of sleep couldn’t decipher. The two were acting weird and maybe they’ve been acting weird for a long time. Renjun couldn’t understand why though. 

He also didn’t have time. He can worry about his friend’s weird behavior later. He needed to find a way to reverse whatever this smoke was that decided to linger onto Jaemin. He needed to make sure Jaemin was safe. 

Jaemin. 

He hasn’t seen Jaemin since they parted ways this morning. Could it be? No. No of course not. But his mind told him the opposite and he pictured every worse case scenario possible. His heart started to speed up. He needed to find Jaemin to make sure he’s okay. He was just being paranoid, he told himself. 

The paranoia lead him to run towards the old building at full speed. It didn’t matter if he was scared or not. It didn’t matter if his legs were about to die off. He didn’t know where he was going, but his gut feeling told him to head towards the classroom. 

The classroom was dark and if Renjun wasn’t so worried then he would have probably ran back by now. He used his phone as a flashlight and scanned the classroom. It seemed to be that Jaemin wasn’t there. 

“Renjun?”

He spoke too soon. Jaemin’s voice seemed to be coming from behind him. Renjun didn’t want to turn around though. He didn’t want to look at Jaemin. He could feel the smoke already. 

At least Jaemin was alive. 

“Are you okay?” Jaemin asked. 

Renjun’s breath hitched. He shouldn’t have turned around. His mind told him not to, but he did. The thing in front of him was not Jaemin. Renjun didn’t want to think that it was Jaemin, but it had the same voice. It was not Jaemin. The smoke wasn’t even that bad this morning, but now...Renjun could barely even see Jaemin. Jaemin was just this ball of smoke. It was not Jaemin. Renjun wouldn’t let himself believe that. 

It was getting harder to breath. It felt like Renjun was drowning. It didn’t matter anymore. It didn’t matter if Renjun couldn’t figure out this murder case or if he will never find out why he can see the smoke. All that matters is Jaemin. That was the last thing Renjun thought before everything went black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is kinda short but i felt like this was the best way to end the chapter. i’ll try uploading the next chapter in a week or two

**Author's Note:**

> [Curiouscat](https://t.co/9Kv8IhU6Bd?amp=1)


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